Dateline: House Of Horrors - 5 harrowing details about Nichole Payne and her son Taylor's death, explored

Dateline Season 29 Episode 51, titled 'House of Horrors,' revised the double homicide of Nichole Payne and her teenage son, Taylor, who were shot to death inside the comfort of their home.

The official synopsis of the episode reads as follows:

"When Nichole Payne and her son, Taylor, are found dead in their home, it takes nearly a decade to unravel what happened; for the first time on television, Nichole's children share what they saw the day that their mother and brother were murdered."

Here are five details about the double homicide from the Dateline episode.

Dateline: 5 details about Nichole Payne and her son Taylor's murder

1) Who found Dateline victims' bodies?

On December 11, 2007, as told by Jason Payne, his wife Nichole was sick and decided to spend the day in bed. His 16-year-old stepson Taylor wanted a new cell phone and denied going to school.

When Jason returned after dropping their 5-year-old son to school, he found both Nicole and Taylor dead in the house they just bought. While Nicole was shot in the back of the head, Taylor lay on his back in the garage with a rifle between his legs.

2) The police initially thought Taylor killed his mother

Since Taylor lay with a rifle propped between his legs, the police thought of the case as a murder-suicide, where Taylor first killed his mother and then committed suicide.

But Lt. Miles Tucker of the Wood County Sheriff’s Office formed a different theory as he found Nicole's body still warm, hinting she had died after Taylor. He explains on Dateline:

“She obviously had not been there very long. When we made our way back into Taylor’s room, Taylor was just the opposite, he was very cold to the touch.”

3) Dateline victim Nichole was not happy in her marriage

While Jason was her second husband, who painted a perfect marriage picture in front of the police, Nichole's family revealed that the couple were not happy. Her mother noted:

“She wasn’t happy that last couple years and there were just signs that, you know, that something wasn’t right. He was controlling, he was very controlling. And it just seemed to get worse and worse as time went on.”

Her sister-in-law, Sarah Hawthorne, noted:

“She said that he wanted to burn the house down with her in it because she wanted to leave.”

4) Police found evidence against Jason

After further investigation, the police discovered that the new house, bought on Nichole's demand, had left the Pynes broke. In addition, Jason was to collect a hefty $100,000 life insurance policy in his wife's name, which alarmed the police to investigate him.

They also found a white cloth with fresh blood traces in Jason's truck. DNA tests proved that the blood belonged to Nichole, which proved Jason was involved in the double homicide.

5) Jason was convicted of Dateline victims' murders

After almost 10 months, Jason was arrested and convicted for the murders of Nichole and Taylor Payne.

In January 2010, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Nichole's mother noted:

“It was heartbreaking to think that not only did a monster take Taylor’s life at 16 years old, but he also was trying to take his whole reputation and brand him as a murderer.”

In 2013, Jason was re-tried on a criminal appeals court demand but met with the same decision as in 2010 and is currently serving his sentence.